Stock futures point to a lower open
U.S. stocks look likely to open lower on Tuesday as tensions between Washington and Beijing heightened over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s planned trip to Taiwan.
Pelosi is set to visit Taiwan later today and meet with Taiwanese government officials. The visit would be the first by a U.S. House speaker to the self-ruled island in 25 years.
China has warned that it would retaliate if Pelosi visits, and an official Beijing statement warned Washington against “playing with fire” on Taiwan.
Pelosi kicked off Asia tour earlier on Monday in Singapore, where she met with the nation’s president and other top officials.
As of 5:10 a.m. ET, Dow futures gave away 155 points, or 0.47% to 32,612. S&P 500 futures dropped 27.25 points, or 0.66% to 4,093.25 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 104.75 points, or 0.81% to 12,857.75.
Earnings parade continues
Meanwhile, the continuing wave of earnings dominates again on Tuesday with Dow component Caterpillar (CAT) announcing its results before the opening bell.
Analysts expect Caterpillar to report earnings of $3.01 per share on revenue of $14.38 billion.
Uber (UBER) also reports ahead of the market open. The ride-hailing giant is expected to post a quarterly loss of 26 cents pers share on revenue of $7.39 billion.
Other companies report this morning include JetBlue Airways (JBLU), S&P Global (SPGI), and Molson Coors Beverage (TAP).
PayPal (PYPL), Occidental Petroleum (OXY), SoFi (SOFI), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Electronic Arts (EA), and Starbucks (SBUX).
Pinterest wins praise from activist investor Elliott; shares rocket
Still on earnings, Pinterest (PINS) reported its second-quarter financial results late Monday, pushing its share price higher and drawing praise from its single-largest shareholder.
The image sharing and social-media app posted adjusted earnings of 11 cents per share on revenue of $666 million. Analysts had called for adjusted earnings of 18 cents per share on revenue of $667 million.
Separately, activist investor Elliott Investment Management revealed it had become the largest shareholder in Pinterest.
In a statement, Elliott managing partner Jesse Cohn and senior portfolio manager Marc Steinberg said Pinterest has “significant potential for growth.”
As of writing, Pinterest stock was marked 20.06% higher to $24 per share in the premarket trading session.
